Nina Dobrev and Ruby Rose are joining the xXx 3 cast

Ruby Rose herself confirmed the casting on Instagram and said: “I am so excited to be joining the XXX family. Start shooting ( excuse the pun ) next feb in Toronto.”

We previously learned that Samuel L. Jackson would be returning as NSA Agent Augustus Gibbons and that UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor has a role in the xXx sequel as well. The trade confirmed the earlier rumor that Indian star Deepika Padukone is in talks but made no mention of international action stars Jet Li and Tony Jaa. We’ll have to wait and see if they are really on board.

The trade adds that Dobrev will play a witty and sarcastic techie while Padukone will play a huntress who happens to be Cage’s former lover. Rose will play a sniper.

F. Scott Frazier provided the most recent draft of the script, which will be directed by D.J. Caruso. Diesel and Joe Roth are producing with Jeff Kirschenbaum and Samantha Vincent, who is also Diesel’s sister.

Filming starts later this month in Toronto and the Philippines. The project does not have a distributor yet, but Paramount Pictures may pick it up.

Diesel starred as leading man Xander Cage in 2002’s xXx, which earned $277 million worldwide. Although a sequel, XXX: State of the Union, hit theaters in 2005 and starred Ice Cube, playing another xXx agent, it failed to recapture the box office clout of the original.